The clingy concubine ran away, and the sickly prince lost control.

Before Luo Haitang could scream, the person covered her mouth.

"Mmm mmm!"

He shook his head, thinking it was some customer who had drunk too much and mistook him for someone else.

As she struggled, a large hand moved up her waistline and suddenly grabbed her soft flesh.

"Ah!" Luo Haitang collapsed, struggling with all her might to break free, her tied-up hair coming loose.

"Luo Haitang, I told you it was you!" Ye Hui grinned mischievously.

Even though Luo Haitang was dressed as a man, Ye Hui still recognized her familiar figure.

"Ye Hui, how dare you!"

With her black hair cascading down like a waterfall, Luo Haitang angrily pointed at Ye Hui.

"I want you to marry me, a proper marriage, how is that presumptuous?" Ye Hui's greedy eyes swept over Luo Haitang from head to toe.

Luo Haitang hugged herself tightly in fear.

"I didn't agree."

"You can't disagree, otherwise you'll have to give Luo Qingyan back to me. You're not as pretty as Luo Qingyan, so to be honest, I'm at a disadvantage."

Ye Hui has recently searched for many official residences, but none of them are suitable for marriage. After much thought, he still cannot let go of the Luo family.

Luo Haitang is not engaged, so marrying him is perfect.

He could even become brothers-in-law with Prince Pei.

"Okay, I'll go find Luo Qingyan now." Luo Haitang walked towards the door.

"Trying to run away?" Ye Hui grabbed Luo Haitang's hair from behind.

"I didn't run away. Maybe my sister wants to be your legal wife? In the Duke's mansion, she's just a lowly concubine." Luo Haitang raised her hands and said it all in one breath, her heart pounding with fear.

Ye Hui twisted Luo Haitang's head, gritted his teeth, and said fiercely, word by word:

"Don't try to fool me. The Duke's mansion has opened the Kangning Pavilion for her. Do you think she'd be willing to leave? I'd rather have you. Marry me, and you can spend the Ye family's money as you please."

The Ye family is in the cloth business, so they are quite wealthy. Ye Haitang is a woman; she can spend money however she wants.

Did you take her?

Luo Haitang panicked: "Help..."

Before he could even shout, Ye Hui covered his mouth with hers.

No matter how much Luo Haitang struggled and fought, Ye Hui held her slender waist tightly with both hands and refused to let go.

Unable to break free, Luo Haitang sadly shed two lines of clear tears.

Ye Hui finally released her grip: "You are already my woman, don't even think about marrying someone else."

"Ye Hui, what did I do to you that you treat me like this?" Luo Haitang said sadly, her hands hanging down.

"Heh!" Ye Hui chuckled lightly. "To be honest, since I got engaged to Luo Qingyan, I've seen her less often than you've seen me. Think about how many times you've deliberately bumped into me, and every single time you were asked for some money to buy things for me."

"I think you're the one who wants to marry me."

Ye Hui pinched Luo Haitang's small face, so close that he could almost touch it, and then gave her a light peck.

Luo Haitang was so frightened that she closed her eyes tightly.

Back then, wasn't Mother betrothing Luo Qingyan to Ye Hui just for his money?

What's wrong with her asking her future brother-in-law to buy her some things, as the older sister? Who knew that Luo Qingyan would go to the Duke's mansion to have someone else's child?

"Ye Hui, let me go."

"Alright." Ye Hui jokingly released his grip. "I'll propose marriage another day."

Luo Haitang's eyes darted around. She agreed to leave first, fearing something might happen if she stayed any longer: "You should find a matchmaker to propose marriage first."

Ye Hui nodded in satisfaction, glancing at Ye Haitang's alluring figure.

Although her face wasn't as pretty as Luo Qingyan's, her figure was decent.

It's soft and big enough.

Feeling flustered by the stares, Luo Haitang wrapped her clothes tightly around herself and fled through the door, leaving behind Ye Hui's lewd laughter.

On the riverbank, Luo Qingyan and her two companions prepared to board the carriage.

"Isn't that the young lady?" Granny Liu noticed Luo Haitang's bowed posture and felt something was off.

Luo Qingyan looked in the direction Liu Mama was pointing and saw that it was indeed Luo Haitang. Looking further back, she saw Ye Hui.

Granny Liu also spotted Ye Hui at the same time: "Miss, Ye Hui, let's go quickly."

The young lady must not run into Ye Hui here, otherwise even ten mouths could not explain her, and her reputation would be beyond redemption.

Luo Qingyan nimbly climbed into the carriage, a smile playing on her lips. Her older sister used to love associating with Ye Hui, even showing off the things Ye Hui bought for her.

At that time, she wondered why Ye Hui, who was clearly her fiancé, would buy things for her sister. Did he look down on her? She was thinking that after they got married, she would manage the household well and make Ye Hui happy.

Looking back now, it's really laughable. Judging from today's situation, the two people standing one in front of the other have an off-putting atmosphere, and it probably won't be anything good.

However, Luo Haitang is only interested in climbing the social ladder and looks down on Ye Hui. She probably won't do anything out of line; at most, she'll just try to coax him out of money.

"Granny, let's go back to Kangning Pavilion."

Kangning Pavilion is about to open, so let's review everything again and make sure nothing is overlooked.

"Young lady, I'm so worried about your mother going back." Granny Liu said with concern.

Luo Qingyan paused and gave her a reassuring look: "We won't associate with her. We'll keep an eye on things at Kangning Pavilion and make sure no one with ulterior motives takes advantage of the situation."

Granny Liu nodded emphatically. They had to be wary of Madam Sun. Madam Sun was the young lady's mother, and they couldn't just kill her with a single blow, so they could only be careful.

Luo Haitang hurriedly left the painted boat, went through the side gate, and plunged into the Luo residence.

She wants to take a shower.

Hua Mei secretly prepared water for Luo Haitang.

Luo Haitang held her breath underwater for a moment, and when she came out of the water, she wanted to be clean.

"Young Miss, what's wrong?" Hua Mei had been waiting outside the pleasure boat, unaware of what had happened inside.

"After coming back from a place like a pleasure boat, I need to take a shower."

Luo Haitang surfaced, panting heavily.

The thrush nodded affirmatively.

Luo Haitang cursed Ye Hui a hundred times in her heart, feeling dirty. She soaked in the bath for an hour, her skin already wrinkled, before finally getting out of the tub.

Huamei helped her change into a new undergarment.

Neither the master nor the servant noticed that snow was falling outside.

"Taking a bath in broad daylight, Miss Luo, she doesn't seem like a proper person!"

A fleeting smile played on Piaoxue's lips as Luo Haitang hurriedly entered the mansion through the side gate. She saw it and knew it couldn't be anything good.

After bathing and dressing, Luo Haitang went to Sun's private treasury, took a small box, and rushed to the pawnshop to exchange it for two thousand taels of silver. On the way, she changed clothes and then rushed to the pleasure boat.

"Finally, I can go home."

With one foot on the riverbank, Sun felt a great sense of relief. The past two months on the boat had been unbearable.

"Begonia, thank you."

Sun hugged Luo Haitang tightly.

The mother and daughter were very close in the past, often walking arm in arm or hand in hand.

Luo Haitang staggered backward. She looked and saw that her mother's private dowry was not much. After adding the ten thousand taels from the public treasury, it was almost gone.

A woman without a dowry cannot stand tall in her household.

With another concubine, Xue, in the household, Mother's life will be very difficult.

She didn't want to be implicated, so she wanted to get married as soon as possible. The thought of getting married made her feel depressed. What should she do if Ye Hui asked the matchmaker to come to her door?

That was just a plan to escape.

Madam Sun keenly noticed that something was wrong with Luo Haitang: "Tang'er, what's wrong?"

Luo Haitang glanced around: "Mother, let's talk in the car."

Mr. Sun nodded mysteriously.

The two quickly boarded the carriage.

"Mother, Ye Hui is bothering me," Luo Haitang said with a bitter face.